Originally Posted by
Doge
He didn't write this, but is quoted. Am I reading correctly that as speeds increase from 20mph to 30mph the drag on the wheels barely goes up - even 28 spoke wheels?
http://www.zipp.com/_media/pdfs/tech...nary_speed.pdf
Also mentioned is the disruptive sound pressure from solid spoke wheels. I remember David Nayer of
Welcome to Nimble some 10 years ago discussing this and how changing the spoke design and fork width would eliminate that. Current TT bikes have a lot of space between forks. We use Nimble Crosswinds still (today) and they are silent at 30mph.
yes, your interpretation of that chart is correct.
re: the 2nd point....much is made about the disruption in airflow with a bladed wheel & forks. IME there is a bunch of repeated lore in that area. generally wider forks handle that better. also........rotational drag (or lack of) is a thing that is not measured in most (all, i believe) tunnel testing, but it is evident in velodrome and field testing.
even an "authoritative" test (tunnel) can be wrong if the use case is not understood--or if one is focused on an incomplete subset of parameters.